Between the insults, pot jokes and bizarre suggestions about which woman to put on the $10 bill, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who has been hot on Hillary Clinton’s heels, came under fire for his views on socialism.

Sanders, who openly describes himself as a Democratic socialist, went on CNN to defend his views, which were criticized as being too extreme during the GOP debate.

Sanders recently explained on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” that he believes the United States should function more like European nations that offer universal healthcare and make sure education is affordable, if not completely free.

"I think, yes, the United States of America is a much larger and much more complicated society, a much more diverse society," Sanders said on CNN's "New Day."

Popular Video

A police officer saw a young black couple drive by and pulled them over. What he did next left them stunned:

Popular Video

A police officer saw a young black couple drive by and pulled them over. What he did next left them stunned:

”But there are things we can learn from other governments which have programs that represent working people."

He added: ”I know for Governor (Bobby) Jindal, it is easy to try to frighten people, but I think if you look at some of the real success stories, there's in many of these countries, there's a lot that we can learn.”

Sanders also slammed Republicans for failing to address serious issues facing many Americans, including poverty, race, climate change and women’s healthcare. "What was really remarkable is the degree to which they avoided the major issues facing the American people," he said.

"If you listen to the debate, you would not know that most of the people in our country -- not all, but most people -- in fact do believe we need comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship," Sanders added. "That's the majority opinion and there was virtually no Republican on that stage who agreed with that.”

Though candidate Rand Paul did mention the racial disparity in how drug crimes are punished, Sanders noted that he didn’t “hear a word about the need to address the fact that 40% of African-American kids in this country are living in poverty.”

He added: "Nor did I hear a word about racial justice in this country.”

Sanders followed along with the debate and, like the first one, live-tweeted it. However, he gave up an hour early, declaring: “Thank you all. I've had it. I'm going home. Talk to you soon.”